40. His voice was like a blast that burst the portal Of fabled hell; and as he spake, each one _4145 Saw gape beneath the chasms of fire immortal, And Heaven above seemed cloven, where, on a throne Girt round with storms and shadows, sate alone Their King and Judge--fear killed in every breast All natural pity then, a fear unknown _4150 Before, and with an inward fire possessed, They raged like homeless beasts whom burning woods invest. 41. 'Twas morn.--At noon the public crier went forth, Proclaiming through the living and the dead, 'The Monarch saith, that his great Empire's worth _4155 Is set on Laon and Laone's head: He who but one yet living here can lead, Or who the life from both their hearts can wring, Shall be the kingdom's heir--a glorious meed! But he who both alive can hither bring, _4160 The Princess shall espouse, and reign an equal King.' 42. Ere night the pyre was piled, the net of iron Was spread above, the fearful couch below; It overtopped the towers that did environ That spacious square; for Fear is never slow _4165 To build the thrones of Hate, her mate and foe; So, she scourged forth the maniac multitude To rear this pyramid--tottering and slow, Plague-stricken, foodless, like lean herds pursued By gadflies, they have piled the heath, and gums, and wood. _4170 43. Night came, a starless and a moonless gloom. Until the dawn, those hosts of many a nation Stood round that pile, as near one lover's tomb Two gentle sisters mourn their desolation; And in the silence of that expectation, _4175 Was heard on high the reptiles' hiss and crawl-- It was so deep--save when the devastation Of the swift pest, with fearful interval, Marking its path with shrieks, among the crowd would fall. 44. Morn came,--among those sleepless multitudes, _4180 Madness, and Fear, and Plague, and Famine still Heaped corpse on corpse, as in autumnal woods The frosts of many a wind with dead leaves fill Earth's cold and sullen brooks; in silence, still The pale survivors stood; ere noon, the fear _4185 Of Hell became a panic, which did kill Like hunger or disease, with whispers drear, As 'Hush! hark! Come they yet?--Just Heaven! thine hour is near!' 45. And Priests rushed through their ranks, some counterfeiting The rage they did inspire, some mad indeed _4190 With their own lies; they said their god was waiting To see his enemies writhe, and burn, and bleed,-- And that, till then, the snakes of Hell had need Of human souls:--three hundred furnaces Soon blazed through the wide City, where, with speed, _4195 Men brought their infidel kindred to appease God's wrath, and, while they burned, knelt round on quivering knees.